What is so great about Kingdom Hearts?

[the_wolfs_howl]

I don't know how many people here are fans of Kingdom Hearts, but in other forums I go to, it seems that everyone loves these games, and I've always wondered why. Unfortunately, the only answers I ever get when I ask that are variations of "It's just so cool!" and "If you played it, you'd know why."

So, if there are any Kingdom Hearts fans around, could you explain to me in a bit more detail what's so great about this game?

[GrubbTheFragger]

Its got a really great combat system and the first game has a great story. Its pretty simple but very well done. The ending has reduced many of my friends to man tears. Its also really interesting to see Disney and Final Fantasy characters interact

[TopazRaven]

I enjoy the combat style to. It was one of the few I actually got the hang of. As much as I like video games, I'm terrible when it comes to the fighting part. Meanwhile I generally enjoyed the story and the theme of friendship. I'm also a pretty big Disney fan so that helped.

[UniqueAngelStar]

Although I don't play Kingdom hearts that much, I like the series.
I really like that they mix anime themes with Disney and Final Fantasy.
Since I like all these things, it's really a cool combo.

Besides, the story is very good of what it seems so far. I love the fact that it crossover the Disney characters and such.
The weapons Sora uses is pretty cool (A key sword is awesome to me)

For gaming experience, I prefer the PS3 versions more than the DS.

[Beau Soir]

I consider it the most epic and engaging crossover game that I've ever played. It's really easy to get into. It's got a touching and deep storyline that's unique and interesting, though it uses other Disney and Final Fantasy characters along with some originals. The characters are lovable and I like their designs and personalities... It's all-around a really fun game and a very enjoyable series. Not too complicated, not too easy... It's just right, and there wasn't anything morally challenging for me personally.

My boyfriend and I are huge fans of KH... And we can do geeky and fun fan things like share star (Paopu!) fruit with each other, too. ^__^

[Nami]

Well, lets start off with the fighting system; Easy, and really freeing. You are hardly restrained and can basically go crazy while fighting. Which rules.

Second, the characters. All lovable, including Riku. They are relatable and truly very deep. In the second Kingdom Hearts, Riku's inner struggle is a reflection of an experience I'm sure, many people have felt. Sora brings a Tidus/Cloud sorta thing to the game, and is truly his own character with a deep caring for his best friends.

Third, Disney and Final Fantasy together is a total win-win situation. And brings a lot of opportunity to the entire game and opens many, many doors for tons of adventures.

The challenges are hard, but, they are brain games and fun to figure out.

I played KH2 in 3 days.

[Yamamaya]

It's an unusual combination that is pulled off relatively well, which is refreshing as there would so many ways this series could have gone wrong. It could have become very narmy by becoming extremely dark. It mixes some of the themes present in FF with Disney themes quite well. As an action RPG, it also has a pretty good combat system.

My only complaint is that the Disney characters hog all the screen time, and the FF characters play a smaller role. That always annoyed me.

[ShiroiHikari]

I like the concept but I didn't care for the gameplay, so I didn't get very far. Also I got tired of freaking EVERYONE always talking about it everywhere I went.

[mkalv]

I think its really good for various reasons. The gameplay is some of the best I have seen in an RPG, except for 358 and Chain of Memories. I like crossovers, so naturally, Disney and FF characters interacting is cool. The voice acting is enjoyable to listen to, and the plot is complex, and doesn't have the Mario "This will NEVER end" feel to it.

The boss fights are usually good too. In fact, the final boss of Kingdom Hearts II is AWESOME! It may be my favorite final boss ever. The story can be happy and funny, and then dark and emotional, which is good. I get tired of generic "Rescue da princess" plot after awhile.

So yeah. I'm a fan.

[Sparx00]

Well, I liked the crossovers from the many final fantasy games, as well as the disney movies. Like many of the other people have said, the combat system is solid, but in my opinion, can tend to get repetitive when you go back to certain levels and fight enemies that are WAY under you level of power.

The story is fairly well written with just about the right amount of drama and suspense. Needless to say, the ending doesn't fail to impress and ends on a rather strong note.

I like the gummi ship builder as well. You gotta admit, making a gummi ship version of the USS Interprise is pretty sweet. Better yet, just build a huge box, and put a bunch of junk inside, and attach wings to the exterior and you got a ship that matches the power of the freaking death star. Totally awesome.

I think one other reason I like Kingdom Hearts so much is because it gives you a sense of nostalgia and in a way, lets you enter the movie and see what would have happened had you have been in it.

Anyway, those are the reasons why I like Kingdom Hearts.

(Note: I'm only talking about Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2. Chain of Memories and it's remade version don't count because they did not share the combat system that made the game what it is. As of the DS and PSP games, I have not played them as I believe that Kingdom Hearts belongs only on a home gaming console.)

[Sapphire225]

There are several reasons.

One: It is an Final Fantasy/Disney crossover. One with an excellent story which makes the characters even more epic then they were before. I mean, have you seen Mickey!? And Cloud!?

Two: The combat style is nice and stylized to a point it becomes good for even the less experienced players to like.

Three: The graphics man...the graphics.

If you give it a try, you'll get hooked...and quick.

[Nate]

I like the gummi ship builder as well. You gotta admit, making a gummi ship version of the USS Interprise is pretty sweet.

The Gummi Ship was hands down the absolute WORST part of Kingdom Hearts. They made it sort of halfway-decent in Kingdom Hearts II, but that just changed it from "stupidly painful and hideously awful" to "grudgingly acceptable."

Also, people actually used the Gummi Ship builder in the first game? Despite the fact it was horribly implemented and you can beat the game easily with the default ship and you get absolutely no reward for building a different ship? At least in 3D Dot Game Heroes, even though using the character builder gets you absolutely nothing gameplay-wise (well, okay, you get a trophy if you care about that sort of thing), it can't make you any worse at playing the game (like the Gummi Ship Builder can), and at least you always, ALWAYS see your character you created throughout the entire game, instead of just during 1% of it.

I also can't help but remember the Penny Arcade comic as I read this thread. Wolf, you might want to give Kingdom Hearts II a rent or borrow it from a friend. I know Gabe from Penny Arcade absolutely hated the first Kingdom Hearts game and thought it was awful, but loved the second one and thought it was fantastic. You'd be missing out on some backstory but you could easily glean that from reading plot summaries on Wikipedia for the first two games (since KH II was actually the THIRD game).

[Tsukuyomi]

I think it's the combo of Disney Characters meet Final Fantasy Characters xD It's actually pretty interesting mix lol I also loved the combat system.. I'm rather be the one who does the attacking via button mashing xD It's a good mix of using commands, but also being able to do the fighting/button mashing <3

The characters are lovable and the art is great, imo <33

[Radical Dreamer]

Wolf, you might want to give Kingdom Hearts II a rent or borrow it from a friend. I know Gabe from Penny Arcade absolutely hated the first Kingdom Hearts game and thought it was awful, but loved the second one and thought it was fantastic. You'd be missing out on some backstory but you could easily glean that from reading plot summaries on Wikipedia for the first two games (since KH II was actually the THIRD game).

This is interesting to me. XD I enjoyed the first game, but I stopped playing KHII like, maybe a third of the way into it, and never picked it back up again. XD The first was definitely flawed (awful camera angles omg), but it at least had a little more dungeon crawling and...other interesting things? It's been a few years since I played it; I can't really remember. XD At any rate, I remember KHII being mostly cutscenes and battles, which I didn't necessarily care for. Add on to that the fact that the first 6 hours of the game introduced completely unfamiliar characters that I guess I also didn't really care for, and I became completely disinterested. XD Maybe I ought to pick it back up again over the summer or something, but yeah, I definitely preferred the first.

As to the original question though: in short, the game is fun, especially if you're familiar with the Disney and Final Fantasy cameo appearances, but it's not the greatest video game of all time. XD

[Nate]

Yeah, they definitely made a mistake by having Chain of Memories be required playing to understand what the absolute crap is going on at the beginning of Kingdom Hearts II. In fact I still don't even fully understand it. Side games should be just that: side stories that have no impact on what's going on in the main games. If they were going to make Chain of Memories important to the plot, they should have just called THAT Kingdom Hearts II.

[Cognitive Gear]

Kingdom Hearts is a fun game filled with many types of Square-Enix and Disney fanservice.

The story is terrible, though. The first game had one that provided a sufficient excuse for the fanservice, but after that it tried to be "deep" and just came off as convoluted. The battle system is pretty fun, though.

[Tsukuyomi]

I never played Chain of Memories since I didn't have whatever it was for xD Although, I did hear about it, so I just kept that in mind when I played KH2 lol

[Psycho Molos]

It also has Hikki singing the theme song xD